Dubai:
Doctors at Zulekha Hospital, Sharjah, removed a 30-centimetre infectious tumour on the right thigh of a 54-year-old patient that could have crippled him, said a surgeon from the hospital.
Dr Fadi Alnehlaoui, surgical oncologist and general surgeon at the hospital, said the patient, Ahmad Falahis, had agniomatosis, or a benign tumour, on his right thigh for the last ten years. The tumour had begun growing very rapidly since the last year. “The lesion occupied the entire region and extended over multiple layers of skin and subcutaneous region.”
A team of surgeons that included Dr. Alnehlaoui and Dr. Sanjay Parashar, consultant plastic surgeon, performed a five-hour excision and grafting procedure to remove the lesions and recover the wide loss of skin. Dr. Alnehlaoui said: “The main challenge of the surgery was the huge size of the infectious lesions that required an expert eye for detail and carefully-monitored excision techniques. It was critical to ensure that we reconstruct the grafts without further damage to the delicate layers of the skin.”
He added, “We grafted the skin from many sides of the limb and successfully treated the entire infection. It is important that not only the infectious mass was removed but also the tissues, subcutis and any muscle with intact margins of healthy tissue to avoid the recurrence. This is essential to keep the new grafts intact and alive, without infection to enable healthy regrowth and regeneration of cells that form the limb. The graft dressing was completed using advanced dressing techniques to bandage the affected area later on to keep the big-size grafts alive.”
Speaking about his experience, Falahis said: “I had reached a stage where I could not bear the irritation anymore as it would disturb my normal seating, movement, walking and sleep as I was unable to turn onto one side and lying on my other side also came with its own difficulties. When I met with the surgeons in Zulekha Hospital, the team was confident of what they were doing and I am thankful that treatment was successful.”
Falahis is now leading a happier life two months after his surgery and the grafts are healthy. Since the grafts involved removal of only partial skin, they were capable of rebuilding new skin layers quickly.
